Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel's starts his awe-inspiring take on Shakespeare's most violent tale of Macbeth on the battlefield on the mist-drenched Scottish heath that he stages dramatically like an epic, but bloody opera. It sets the pace for what turns out to be one of the most enthralling adaptions of the Bards work on the big screen for some years.
Kurzel had made an enormous impact with his directorial debut in 2011 with The Snowtown Murders, a violent study of a particularly pernicious serial killer. It is therefore no surprise that he imbues his version of Macbeth's treachery egged on by his wife's unbridled ambition, with such savage and brutality reminding us too well that nothing at all would ever stop in the way of the Thane fulfilling the Witches prophesy that he would one day be King of Scotland.
As Macbeth's (Michael Fassbender) murderous plans succeed but lead onto the need to kill over and over again to secure his Throne, his paranoia turns him into a despot ruler as his madness sets in. Fassbender gives a powerful electrifying performance in a role that he really makes his own from enraging on the battlefield to the quietness of the some of the more entreating soliloquies from Shakespeare's rich text.Marion Cotillard, a phenomenal Lady Macbeth, adds another dimension into playing one of the Bard's toughest women and sends spine tingling shivers down one's back with her quiet rendering of the famous sleepwalking scene which is set in the darkness of a stark chapel lit by snowflakes. As the strong almost silent power behind Macbeth she does however seem almost unhinged herself when she is forced to watch the cruel killing of Lady McDuff (Elizabeth Debicki)and her three children. The chemistry between Fassbender and Cotillard practically sizzles at times.
The play, no long bound by the restrictions of a stage, comes alive as Kurzel and his Australian crew of cinematographer Adam Arkapawand production designer Fiona Crombie, let loose in the Scottish glens and make this a real visual treat which is positively breathtaking at times. What this helps to achieve is to make the plot line much easier for non Shakespeare aficionados to follow, and in fact makes this wonderful classic much more accessible to a wider audience without taking anything at all away from the text.
This story is a day and a very long night in the lives of three Cuban teenagers who are desperate for a better life. For hotheaded Raul this can only mean one thing and that's leaving an impoverished dilapidated Havana for Miami where he's convinced the streets are paved with riches. He wants to seek out the father he never knew but above all he just dreams of wearing gold chains to his knees and driving around in a red sports car with a stripper for company. His friend Elio who works alongside him in a Hotel kitchen wants to go simply because he has a very serious secret crush on Raul. Lila is Elio's twin sister and the only reason that she persuades the boys to let her tag along is that she cannot bear to be parted from her brother. There are hardly family ties to keep the kids there as the twins father is cheating on their mother, and Raul's prostitute mother suffering with AIDS is still 'working' the street even though she lacks any medication. When Raul attacks and hurts a tourist 'client' who his mother has picked up, it escalates his need to leave as the Police are now searching for him.
So Elio spends this last day being very resourceful as he knows that he needs to procure inner tubes, lumber, a compass, and maybe even a GPS, for the journey. He has little cash, but that is hardly a deterrent as all of this can be found on the flourishing black market usually by bartering. His bike is the first thing to be traded in for an outboard motor. Their very crude craft that they strap together will make the 90 mile ocean journey very precarious in the least especially when they discover that neither the motor, nor the GPS, work so they are left with no alternative than just to row and pray.
It's a heartwarming tale that despite its poignant sad tragedy, is full of life and hope as these impassioned rather colorful assertive kids seek a better future for themselves. The fact that there are undercurrents of lust/love : Elio for Raul, and Raul for Lila, plus Lila's overpowering devotion for Elio, added more than a frisson to the story. Stunningly photographed that you get a real sense of the whole unsettling environment of a impoverished city that is struggling to adapt and survive in a world that it is so alien to. The real joy is the three young leads, all local non-professional actors, who gave such brilliant convincing performances as if this was in fact their own life stories. In fact they were not, but in a twist of reality, the pair playing brother and sister 'disappeared' when they were en route to the movie's Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in NY, and are now currently seeking asylum in Miami. ★★★★★★★★ Available at Amazon VOD/DVD
Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel's starts his awe-inspiring take on Shakespeare's most violent tale of Macbeth on the battlefield on the mist-drenched Scottish heath that he stages dramatically like an epic, but bloody opera. It sets the pace for what turns out to be one of the most enthralling adaptions of the Bards work on the big screen for some years.
The play, no long bound by the restrictions of a stage, comes alive as Kurzel and his Australian crew of cinematographer Adam Arkapaw and production designer Fiona Crombie, let loose in the Scottish glens and make this a real visual treat which is positively breathtaking at times. What this helps to achieve is to make the plot line much easier for non Shakespeare aficionados to follow, and in fact makes this wonderful classic much more accessible to a wider audience without taking anything at all away from the text. 
